Hey thanks for the articles Jen, I appreciate the effort on your part. =)
I suppose this is as good a thread as any to discuss them, so here’s my take.
Meh. Most of them are either for beginners (like basic statistical breakdowns, or how Germany should turtle), or they are in the realm of “yeah this would work maybe once in my group, maybe. And I had better get the opponents a bit drunk first.” (canadian shield and landbridge etc.) That or they were seriously shortsighted, looking at immediate IC/gain/loss effects of strategies rather than the big picture. Typos and flat out obvious mistakes were numerous, it would help the authors to actually proof-read their own material. The interjected comedy was humorous at times, but more often came off a bit forced, and really was just out of place most of the time. I’m reading strategy, why is half the pdf about Mr. T? I could really care less, I stopped reading halfway thru when I realized the attempt at explaining the benefits of tanks was going to really stink. Boredom and the gag reflex trump banal curiousity every time.
There was one article that stood out above the rest, which was the one about the Un-Baltic. This one really broke thru the box and gave the best possible solution I have yet seen for an otherwise tricky dillema for the Germans; I am definitely going to try this out the next few games. I especially liked the progressive thinking as to forcing the UK into bad fights which usually in the game any player can choose to avoid without serious consequences, and also the effects of luck on small battles. This is a really smart article.
That said, it amazes me that no less than three articles were published which focused solely on builds that absolutely cripple the Germans in not just the long run, but the short run as well. And these articles are presented as a fundamental strategy. (??!) When I first came onto the canadian shield etc ideas, I thought, ok, thats an interesting threat/deterrent which could change the game. It doesnt take too long to realize that the Russians will take FULL advantage, and that it requires minimal maneuvering from the other allies to negate this massive IPC and strategic investment. Like I said, it would work once against somebody not paying too much attention to the board, so get them drunk first if you can. Unbaltic should be the alpha and the omega as far as German naval builds go, in regards to CSUB articles. Dont delete the others, but they should be side-shelved into “interesting gambits,” not mainstream strategy.
Finally, at the end of each article there is a small conclusion about the shortcomings therein. 90% of the time this was something like, “None! There are no shortcomings or missing ideas or mistakes. This idea is absolutely perfect!”
Wow. What an arrogant crock of siht. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to figure out what kind of people tag their own articles like this, or even who they are. Big surprise there, really. /sarcasm
In conclusion, most of the articles are more or less a waste of time unless you are really new to the game and especially strategy games in general. If so, by all means read them all and absorb what you can. For advanced players, I wouldn’t bother too much with CSUB except for the UnBaltic move, which I will post here on another thread, as I am interested to hear some of this board’s veterans’ take on it.